Information for Parents and Students

My question-and-answer file has many questions from parents and students and my answers. Please read the list of questions before you submit a question, as I receive the same ones multiple times and the answer may be there already. I have tendinitis, so I'd appreciate it if you'd read first. This lets me "save the day's keystrokes" for new questions. Thanks for your understanding. To submit a question: marbeth@marthabeth.com. Please put piano in the subject line, as my e-mail program is set to reject as spam anything without it.

Parent Topics

Teachers

Finding Out How You/Your Child Learns Best, including a suggestion for evaluating how well the teacher and student mesh, in terms of teaching effectiveness. This is a file written for teachers, but parents should find it of interest and assistance.

About Instruments

About Pianos

Information and My Suggestions on Specific Piano Brands, including the fascinating stories of which piano companies were sold (and re-sold) to which other companies and how this usually affected quality. This has a bearing on when - - and sometimes where - - the piano you are considering was made. Also included is information on sizes, serial numbers, stencil pianos, etc., etc. I also discuss harpsichords and give a review of the Roland digital harpsichord. I update this file constantly.

Another solution, but less helpful to the student's development, is to go with an electronic keyboard. Although your ultimate goal doubtless will be a real piano, it is better to practice on an electronic than to delay lessons until an acoustic piano is available for home practice. As I have noted in the QA responses (see below), you will want to trade in the electronic for an acoustic piano in fairly shorter order, but an electronic is better than not starting to play.

In my questions-and-answers file , with queries from parents and students, there are a number concerning buying an electronic instrument vs. an acoustic ("real") one. This question addresses buying an electronic instrument for a beginner. This one is from an adult, wondering if a digital is the right choice.

Miscellaneous

Question and Answer File

There is also a file of questions put to me by parents and students concerning piano study (along with my answers), which might be of interest to you. This file is growing in length, so please be patient with the load. I decided to do it in one file to minimize the time spent administratively so I could use the time instead to answer questions and post more material. Thanks for your understanding. (Same .gifs as on this page, so that won't slow things down; other than the duplicate graphics, the file is all text.) I update this file constantly.

Note: If some of these links don't work, it's likely because I haven't mounted the file. Please come back! (And e-mail me with the link that's dead, as this will remind me to get going on this article!)